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Topic History of: Michael Kitchen looks like Alec Guinness
Max. showing the last 5 posts - (Last post first)
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SP17 |
Fair enough ITK.
Good luck to him - and his memory.
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In The Know (with the help of Wiki) |
However, as a result of the deteriorating international situation and the rise of Nazi Germany, Leslie Hore-Belisha, Secretary of State for War, persuaded the cabinet of Neville Chamberlain to introduce a limited form of conscription on 27 April 1939, with the Military Training Act being passed the following month. Only single men 20 to 22 years old were liable to be called up (*), and they were to be known as "militiamen" to distinguish them from the regular army. To emphasise this distinction, each man was issued with a suit in addition to a uniform. The intention was for the first intake to undergo six months of basic training before being discharged into an active reserve (***). They would then be recalled for short training periods and attend an annual camp.
At the outbreak of war, on 3 September 1939, the Military Training Act was overtaken by the National Service (Armed Forces) Act, and the first intake was absorbed into the army. This act imposed a liability to conscription of all men 18 to 41 years old.Britain did not completely demobilise in 1945, as conscription continued after the war. Those already in the armed forces were given a release class determined by length of service and age. In practice, releases began in June 1945, and the last of the wartime conscripts had been released by 1949.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_th...dom#Second_World_War
(*) which explains why my father was 20 at the time !
(***) Which probably explains why he did 18 months of his service abroad ! |
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In The Know |
Yes ... my father may have been conscripted in 1945 (he would have been 20 then - which seems a bit late - but I do know that National Service was sometimes deferred if you were doing some training / aopprenticeship?) |
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SP17 |
Interesting - but the hotel was bombed in 1946.
And British national service ended with victory in 1945; it was reimposed (for men only) in 1947 to enlarge the armed forces - first for an 18-month term, then for two years.
Sure you've got the right hotel/year?
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In The Know (as always) |
SP17 wrote:
Excellent series so far
... are you sure that's what you think?
You won't be changing your mind when you see others' posts ?
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My father was fortunate in that he did most of his National Service abroad (whereas most people spend 2 years in an army barracks on some windswept moor in the UK). He was based near the King David Hotel in Palestine at the time - and had been in the building only a couple of weeks earlier. At the time of the bombing he was actually on a few days break in Egypt. |
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